A California-based company called Cereplast has recently made an interesting and very surprising announcement that they are able to produce bioplastics from microalgae. Cereplast has already developed some new technologies before, being able to make plastic from renewable materials such as corn starch, tapioca, wheat and potatoes.
The difference in the microalgae plastic production is the possibility to reduce at least 50% of the petroleum content used in traditional plastic resins.
The Founder, Chairman and CEO of Cereplast, Frederic Scheer, said “Algae-based resins represent an outstanding opportunity for companies across the plastic supply chain to become more environmentally sustainable and reduce the industry’s reliance on oil. Based on our own efforts, as well as recent commitments by major players in the algae field, we believe that algae has the potential to become one of the most important “green” feedstocks for biofuels, as well as bioplastics. Algae as biomass makes sense in that it helps close the loop on polluting gases and can be a significant renewable resource”
Cereplast is looking forward to use the new found technology in several other ways, collaborating with other companies that plan to use algae in order to minimize the CO2 and NOX gases that pollute our environment. Algae can be treated as biomass and can be harvested daily from a typical photo-bioreactor. The biomass can be used as biofuel or as a raw material for biopolymer feed stock.
